42 What's New?

"What's New?!"

Happy New Year! This is the beginning of the church year -
which begins with the season of Advent - filled with the anticipation of the
arrival of Christ into the world. He came and He comes again - whenever
we invite Him. Even the saints like to have an invitation - a welcome.
But Jesus was rejected while still in the womb - the Inn was full
you remember - and his mother delivered him in the stable - among the
friendly animals. Animals know so much more than we give them credit
for - witness the animals who went to higher ground before the gigantic
tsunami. How does my god know to go which day to go the door to wait
for the maid to come - whom she loves dearly because Elsa stays home
and keeps her company all day, whereas I run off to church. How do the
swallows find Capistrano? How do pengins know where to march to?
In this world of ours, there's a miracle around every corner -
something new to be discovered - something different to understand.
Jesus was something new - something different - we've never
quite gotten used to him. That's because He was none other than God
walking among us - God with us - Emanuel! - which is what Emanual
means - God with us! Because we as mankind never got ourselves to
God, there was only one solution - God had to come to us.
We tried to be faithful. We tried our best to follow God's laws as
we understood them, but we failed.
We poured over the sacred books seeking a better understanding
of God, but things there seemed so strange and incomprehensible.
We built a grand temple in the hope of containing God, a house
grand enough for God to reside in, but following the rituals of the temple
was a pale substitute for the living God.
We listened to the prophets and nodded in assent to their demands.
But agreeing with them was one thing: obeying them was another.
So many of our attempts to get close to God, to walk with God,
to obey God only seemed to drive us further from God. What could we
do?
The answer is that we could do nothing. Something had to be
done for us. We could not come to God, so God came to us.
Advent means, that caught in our old ways, following our
accustomed scripts, going through the motions, God came to us. God
reached out to us, despite the futility of our groping toward him, God
embraced us, stood beside us, and became one with us.
It's that closeness that Communion accomplishes for us if we have
the eye to see the miracle in the common place.
Before His physical departure from the Earth, Jesus chose elements
by which we could remember him - two things that were at every meal -
bread and wine. He gave symbolic meaning to each - a symbol of his
Presence.
Shortly after my father died, I found my mother sitting sadly in a
chair, holding my father's shoes. They weren't his dress shoes - but his
work shoes which didn't smell all that great from years of sweaty use - but
still they were the perfect symbol of the dedicated, hardworking husband
and father he was - who was up before light and finishing after dark to
support a family of nine children.
What would symbolize you? What is the essence of who you are
that could be capsulized into a symbol?
And how does that essence relate to the fierce directions given us
in the Scripture today "We should prepare ourselves to fight evil with
the weapons that belong to the light."
The weapons that belong to the light are the principles of Jesus
that are the only things powerful enough make it possible for our world to
survive - for the earth to be preserved and for wars to cease that could
cause the end of civilization. God doesn't have to bring the end of time,
we're doing a very good job of heading for it entirely on our own.
When I was a kid, we were always crying wolf - saying there was
a crisis when there was none. Once such day, my next older brother
shouted out from the old swimmin' hole that he was drowning. His cries
of "Help - Help, I'm drowning" didn't fool any of us. He went under. We
waited eagerly for him to come back up. The only problem - He didn't!
He WAS drowning - whereupon a family member dived in, found him
below the surface, and dragged him to shore - where he coughed up a lot
of water, came to and continued on in the land of the living.
But he had been through quite an experience. Thinking he was
going to meet his Maker, he said that every mean and terrible thing that
he had ever done passed through his mind in an instant. God didn't have
to judge him, he had already judged himself.
God doesn't have to bring an end to things...we're doing a fine job
of that ourselves....thinking we can war our way to piece - totally opposite
to what Jesus said - totally foreign to the way He was in the world.
As we come to the communion table today, our task is simple, to
examine ourselves to see how like the Christ we have become or need to
become - to ask how concerned we are about His Church, His Kingdom,
His reign as King of Kings - how involved are we in the things of the
Spirit.
It is likely that instead, we have fallen prey to what our culture
calls us to become. A recent church of England report puts it this way:
"Where previous generations found their identity in what they
produced, we now find our identity in what we consume. "
Never at any funeral have I said, He consumed four luxury cars,
to luxury homes and half of the Forge's wine list. Spiritually, those things
won't get us anywhere - they certainly don't stop wars or produce peace.
Jesus gives us the bread and wine to remember him by, but for the
purpose of remembering that we are his hands and feet in the world to
accomplish His tasks. He walks beside us hoping to see us doing things
that will make a difference.
The Church just sent a thousand dollars from our Benevolence
Budget to help keep the Interfaith Worker Justice organization going -
giving them money to help others who earn very little to get a living wage
- pressuring Burger King, Taco Bell and others on behalf of the tomato
pickers who earn very little - or pressuring universities and housing
communities to pay their groundskeepers a living wage. They know in
their hearts to help these people is to make a difference where it counts
most - with whom it counts most.
So what is the symbol by which you will be remembered ? -
perhaps a sweaty shirt from the latest march for worker's wages: or from
serving on the food line at the church's luncheon for the homeless, or a
parking stub from one of the many committee meetings you have attended
to further the work of your church, your service club or arts organization.
"I say this because you know that we live in an important time,
Yes, it is now time for you to wake up from your sleep. Our salvation
is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost
finished." (Romans 13:11.)
Into the darkness, the Christ of Light appears - again this advent.
Showing us how Life is to be done and won. - to give us anothr chance.
He came not to consume but to give - to love - to share. That's why we're
here - to learn to walk in that light, to live in that light.
The animals in the stable intuitively understood that. So must we.
In closing, I'd like to share A Dog's Purpose, from a 4 year old.
Being a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten year-old
Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's owners, Ron, his wife, Lisa,
and their little boy, Shane, were all very attached to Belker, and they were
hoping for a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the
family we couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the
euthanasia procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made the arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought
it would be goof for four-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They
felt as though Shane might learn something from the experience.
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker's
family surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the
last time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on.
Within a few minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away. The little
boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty or confusion.
We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering aloud
about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, "I know why."
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned
me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation.
He said, "People are born so that they can learn how to live
a good life - like loving everybody all the time and being nice right?"
The four year old continued, "Well, dogs already know how to do
that, so they don't have to stay as long."
LIVE SIMPLY. LOVE GENEROUSLY. CARE DEEPLY.
SPEAK KINDLY. LEAVE THE REST TO GOD. MAKE YOUR LIFE
A SYMBOL OF THE LIFE OF CHRIST. Now.....
Come, dance in delight because love has come
and the wine of celebration is being poured
Come, lift up your hearts
to receive the abundance that waits for us
for the Christ is present.
and we touch the life of God.
Come to this sacred table, not because you must, but because
you may..... .

Communion Meditation Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon (or meditation) is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)December 2, 2007 10:30 a, m.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.